22/04/2019 - When in Rome.......

Sunday saw us down at friends in Exmouth yet again having driven the boy part of the way back to University. Work on Tuesday meant we had only planned a short stop, but there was more than enough time to factor in a quick fishing session, particularly as the conditions on Monday morning - warm, sunny weather and an early morning high tide - looked spot on. 

Unfortunately things didn't go quite to plan, as a late night and more than a few drinks meant our early start went out the window and we didn't get down to the marina until just before slack water. At least the brisk walk served to clear our heads a bit! Setting up on the "compass", my friend Simon and I started off dropping our baited rigs down amongst the rocks to see what was about. About half an hour later and with just two, fat shannies to show for our efforts, we were ready for a move onto the dock. The tide had already started ebbing and running along the dock wall, but I spotted a small, sheltered area of slack water and duly dropped my rig down to the bottom. Literally 10 seconds later the tip wrenched over and after a short, but intense, scrap I scooped a beautifully marked ballan wrasse into the landing net. 














Next cast resulted in another, slightly smaller specimen, so I encouraged Simon to drop his rig into the same spot while I sorted the fish out in the net. I just about had time to unhook it and drop it back in before he announced that he was also into a fish! 

We carried on in this vein for about the next 20 minutes, taking turns in the "wrasse hole" and catching several more ballans in a range of colours and sizes, including a double hook-up to Simon that looked like peas in a pod. Eventually, as the ebb picked up, our little patch of slack water disappeared along with the fish, so we moved on to the next spot at the boat ramp hoping for some pollack. It took a few casts to find them, but they were soon throwing themselves at our artificial baits. 


Our dear lady wives turned up at this point and with thoughts turning to a much-needed cup of coffee and some food, we had a last couple of casts each. I hadn't bothered to change my two hook mini-flapper rig I'd been using for the wrasse and consequently managed to end on a high with two double hook ups, consisting of three pollack and a coalfish, dispelling our wives' theory that we were just catching the same single fish over and over again! Walked back along the front looking for some low water spots to try next time, stopping at Abi's for a quick brunch. Five hours later, after multiple delays on the M5, we were back in Nottingham and getting ready for work! 

2 comments:

  1. Sounds like some enjoyable dangling.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Good bit of fishing there matey.
    I used to love fishing for the smaller sea species from the docks, piers and marinas when i was holidaying down in Devon and Cornwall as a kid. Cracking fun on light tackle, i do plan on heading down that way soon just for the fishing but work keeps getting in the way lol.

    ReplyDelete